Wednesday 30 September 2015

Fashion mistakes that I vow...

....never to make again (I know that fashion and I don't normally go together, but I have to wear clothes, and I often make mistakes). Here goes:

I will never again buy a jump suit (yes. It was a long time ago, but we were very hard up at the time, and the shame has stayed with me. The jump suit has not).

I will never buy another pair of dungarees. I love dungarees. They are comfortable and cheery, and I think they look okay. But my daughter says she will never be seen again with me if I wear them, and I love my daughter more than I love dungarees.

I will never again buy a second garment in a different colour because I liked the first, and they were in the sale. I have learnt that if I go off the first, then that means that I have gone off both. Lose-lose.

If I don't like something I've bought after all, I won't hang on to it, unworn, for two years because I ought to keep it for a while in case (like those bits I keep in the fridge, which I'm not going to use, but can't throw away until they grow green fur). I shall take it to Oxfam NOW.

I shall never again go to a son's wedding dressed as a bat (long story. The memory - and, worse, the photos - are with me still). Another son gets married next year. I shall be guided entirely by daughter (see above). So definitely no dungarees.

I shall never again hang on to something I've bought online, but am too lazy to send back, convincing myself that I shall grow to like it. I shall not only not grow to like it; I shall grow to hate it.

I shall never again wear new shoes to a son's wedding. Those I bought to go with the bat outfit became excruciating within minutes. They didn't even look nice. To this day, I don't know why I bought them.

31 comments:

  1. Being an ordinary 'bloke', fashion doesn't play a big part in my life. If I see something that I find OK, and it fits, I'll buy a dozen. So I often look as if I'm wearing exactly the same clothes for weeks on end.

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    1. Cro, I think I do, too. Jeans, jeans and jeans...

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  2. I can't help I'm afraid. I would like a pair of dungarees.

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    1. Well get some, Adrian! Unless you too have a bossy daughter.

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  3. Dear Frances, learning from our own mistakes is part of the process, isn't it - and your honesty and willingness to do better next time all speak for you :-)
    Actually, nothing wrong with dungarees and jumpsuits... provided they are worn by the right person with the right figure at the right occasion (definitely not weddings, but then I don't believe for a second that you ever did that).
    New shoes are always a bit tricky, aren't they. And as for buying two of the same, but in different colours - I have done that several times and never regretted it. On the other hand, I have sometimes regretted not having bought two of the same when the one I really liked became shabby with wearing and washing it all the time, and then of course it wasn't available any more.

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    1. Meike, I don't think I'm in the same league as you in sartorial matters. I probably just don't care enough. But I can't see you in dungarees!

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  4. I cringe to see photos of me in my one and only, much-despised jumpsuit. My husband liked it - and isn't usually one to comment on such things - so I kept wearing it, but I loathed myself, especially from the back view.
    I also hold onto clothes I should have sent back and now my wardrobe is bursting with horrible things. Every time I try to sort it out, I give up after a minute and force the doors shut again. I ought to take action right now, but I'm too busy trying to imagine the bat outfit. I don't suppose we could see it...? xxx

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    1. Ah. The bat outfit. I'll try to get a photo from my lovely daughter in law, but am still not sure I'm ready to put in the public domain. But it's good to know I'm not the only one to hoard mistakes.

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  5. I had a slim fitting" jump suit" in the mid 70s. I was quite thin ( less than 9st) and it was white cotton. I was the bees knees! However, I went to a party in it and wore a blue and red cotton scarf knotted round my neck in a fashionable manner. Mid evening I was thrown into their swimming pool and had to change…..wrapping my scarf up in my white all in one and stuffing it into a bag. I was offered a choice of my hostess's clothes…..they were all crimplene and beige as I remember, so spent the rest of the evening trying to hide! Needless to say the dye spread from the scarf and nothing would get it out of the jump suit. Happy days!

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    1. Oh, how sad. But at least you seem to have liked your jumpsuit. I looked exactly like a garage mechanic in mine. They seem to have been a 70s thing.

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  6. The good thing about fashions is they change so quickly that all our mistakes are likely to be brand new ones.

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    1. Patsy, I don't take much notice of fashion. It took me some time to come round to the idea of skinny jeans, and they were a present from....my daughter. Still not sure about them.

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  7. I have managed to avoid jump suits and dungarees. The fashion for light weight patterned trousers was tempting, but I knew I would look like I had forgotten to change out of my pyjamas. It's strange how you can wash and wear an item of clothing for years and yet another becomes unwearable very quickly for one reason or another. I think I have developed a style I'm happy with and stick to. Boring, but it works. You have my sympathy.

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    1. Maggie, my "style" is jeans and shirts. Jumpers in the winter. Occasionally long skirts. That's it, really.

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  8. I had a pale blue corduroy jumpsuit in the 70s and some lovely denim dungarees in the 80s but the worst was - shudder - a shell suit! I don't regret the dungarees - I wish I had them still xx

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    1. Teresa, I really hanker after denim dungarees. Shall we go out and buy some together (and I'll forget my daughter)?

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    2. Yes, Frances, we should... she doesn't have to know (and neither does mine who I'm sure wouldn't approve either) xx

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  9. Wise words to live by. I too have family wedding photos I'd rather burn. So wrong!

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    1. Wise words, ER, but am I going to stick to them??

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  10. I wish this post had come with photos! :)

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  11. Question?: Difference between "jeans" and "dungarees"
    I'm an old lady and still prefer jeans and sweaters (jumpers) for my everyday comfort. I too have a daughter who is the epitome of tasteful dress and I know she is horrified that her mother is still in jeans!

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    1. Jill, dungarees have a bib at the front and straps. Toddlers wear them. Your daughter is worse than mine, for mine buys me jeans ;)

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  12. Can identify with a few of those, Frances, and I like the bit about not buying the same thing in a different colour!

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    1. I've always regretted this afterwards, Rosemary, but it seems I never learn...

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  13. Just been told off by my mum for visiting her wearing my 30 year old cricket jumper. It's a bit ragged but not that bad. She's 94 today and still criticises my choice of clothes.

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    1. Your jumper could be quite valuable, Keith. EBay?

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  14. I loved my dungarees in the late 70s but now? Oh dear me no!

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  15. Oh go on, Wendy. You know you want them. You can come with Teresa and me and we'll have a dungaree spree.

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  16. I am completely untouched by fashion or people's views in my personal tastes. Leastways that's how I see myself. I find it quite strange, therefore, that when Wendy (NZ Family) tells me that I look old or ridiculous in something I never wear it again.

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